Simeon Perkins
Encyclopedia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
merchant, diarist and politician.
Colonel Simeon Perkins was born in Norwich, Connecticut
Norwich, Connecticut
Regular steamship service between New York and Boston helped Norwich to prosper as a shipping center through the early part of the 20th century. During the Civil War, Norwich once again rallied and saw the growth of its textile, armaments, and specialty item manufacturing...
, one of sixteen children of Jacob Perkins and Jemima Leonard. He came to Liverpool, Nova Scotia
Liverpool, Nova Scotia
Liverpool is a Canadian community and former town located along the Atlantic Ocean of the Province of Nova Scotia's South Shore. It is situated within the Region of Queens Municipality which is the local governmental unit that comprises all of Queens County, Nova Scotia...
, in May 1762 as part of the New England Planter
New England Planters
The New England Planters were settlers from the New England colonies who responded to invitations by the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, to settle lands left vacant by the Bay of Fundy Campaign of the Acadian Expulsion...
migration to Nova Scotia. In Liverpool, Perkins immediately began trading in fish and lumber and forged trading ties with New England, Newfoundland, Europe and the West Indies.
During the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, Perkins was at first neutral, but became increasingly loyal to the British cause. His diary, which he began in 1766, remains a vital source for historians studying colonial Canada and the battle for identity and loyalty. After relentless American privateer attacks on shipping and an attempted American looting of Liverpool itself, Perkins led the outfitting of several privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
ships against the Americans. Perkins also invested in privateering during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, earning substantial returns from vessels such as the ships Charles Mary Wentworth, Duke of Kent and the famous brig Rover
A born leader, he held public office for a long period representing Queens County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly
Nova Scotia House of Assembly
The Nova Scotia Legislature, consisting of Her Majesty The Queen represented by the Lieutenant Governor and the House of Assembly, is the legislative branch of the provincial government of Nova Scotia, Canada...
from 1765 to 1768 and from 1770 to 1799. He held twenty-seven government positions in his lifetime, none of which paid including justice of the peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
, colonel of the militia, and judge in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas and the Court of Quarter Sessions.
He had nine children from two marriages. His first wife, Abigail Backus, died four weeks after the birth of his first son Roger. He remarried in 1775 to Mrs. Elizabeth Headley (Young) who had been widowed two months before the birth of her daughter Ruth. His home is open to the public and guided tours are given from June until October. It was purchased by the Province of Nova Scotia and opened as part of the Nova Scotia Museum
Nova Scotia Museum
Nova Scotia Museum is the corporate name for the most decentralized museum in Canada - 27 museums across Nova Scotia, including over 200 historic buildings, living history sites, vessels, specialized museums and close to a million artifacts and specimens...
system at the suggestion of the author Thomas Raddall who lived in Liverpool.
Further reading
- Early Liverpool and its Diarist by C. Bruce Fergusson (1963).
- The Diary of Simeon Perkins (5 volumes), edited by Harold A. Innis et al., published by The Champlain Society (1947–78).
- The Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution: Excerpts from Simeon Perkins' Diary (1774-1782) Queens County Museum (1992).